The FIA World Rallycross Championship is living up to its reputation as the FIA’s fastest growing motorsport series after attracting the biggest Supercar line-up of the season for this weekend’s Red Kiwi World RX of Germany (20-21 September).  With a record-breaking 41 Supercars representing 11 different marques and 17 nationalities across Supercar, TouringCar and Super1600, Germany RX boasts a truly international flavour.

Round nine of this year’s World RX, Germany RX is staged at the Estering circuit in Buxtehude: approximately 25 miles south-west of Hamburg. Buxtehude has a population of around 40,000 people and is the second-largest town in the district of Stade. The Estering circuit itself is the shortest of the season at 952 metres in length but with top speeds of up to 150mph, the back straight makes Germany RX one of the fastest events this year.  Estering is also the fourth and penultimate round of this year’s FIA European Rallycross Championship (Euro RX), of which there are a total of 26 Supercar entries.

On the back of two consecutive World RX wins, Championship leader Petter Solberg is eager to extend his advantage but admitted the difficult nature of Estering could prove troublesome. “Estering is a tricky circuit,” confirmed Solberg, who drives a Citroen DS3 Supercar for PSRX. “There are two key things to getting a good race here. The first is to get through the first corner safely. I remember from racing here before, there was a lot of action in that first corner.  The second big thing is to pick the right time for the joker lap and then get it absolutely right. I think the joker is more important here than at most circuits.”

Twenty-eight points behind Solberg and second in the standings is Ford Olsbergs MSE driver Reinis Nitiss. Since the previous round in Loheac, Nitiss has returned to Latvia where he has taken part in PR activities including a lawn mower racing competition – which the 18-year-old went on to win. “A good racing driver must be able to adapt to circumstances and different techniques, as well as to maintain a cool head,” explained Nitiss who is arguably Solberg’s biggest title threat this season. 

Third in the driver standings for Volkswagen Marklund Motorsport is Topi Heikkinen, 10 points adrift of Nitiss. The Finn has been a solid points-scorer so far this season and is feeling confident that prior testing at Estering could give his team an edge over the others. Joining Heikkinen for Volkswagen’s home event in the Polo RX Supercar will be regular team-mate Anton Marklund and wildcard entrant Ronny C Rock, who holds the Guinness World Record for drift reverse parking. “We are very happy to have Ronny on board,” explained VW Marklund Team Principle, Jan Marklund. “His driving skills and famous stunts speak for themselves, and there are no questions over his talent. We are really looking forward to watching him race in World RX.”

After three podium finishes in three events, Team Peugeot-Hansen will be aiming for four-in-a-row when the Swedish-based squad travel to Germany this weekend. Timmy Hansen, however, admits that he is hungry to do one better and stand on the podium’s top step: “We want to win a race before the season is finished, that's all I can think about right now,” said the 21-year-old Swede. “It was very special to step onto the podium in Belgium and France. Finally stepping up on the podium was amazing and very emotional for all of us. Now we have done it three times in a row and we're all very hungry for the next step.”

Female rally driver Ramona Karlsson will replace Jacques Villeneuve in the Albatec Racing prepared Peugeot 208 Supercar this weekend and is feeling buoyed following a successful test at Knockhill race circuit earlier this week.  Karlsson will be partnered in Germany with Albatec team owner, Andy Scott. Former F1 World Champion Villeneuve will return to World RX for round 10 at Franciacorta (27-28 September).

One of the biggest stars to compete at Estering will be Team EKS RX driver and founder, Mattias Ekstrom, who returns to World RX for the first time since his spectacular victory at Holjes back in July. The two-time DTM Champion completed two days testing in the Audi S1 Quattro and states his ultimate aim in Germany is to reach the final. “It’s always nice to be back in World RX and of course it will be exciting to be racing in Germany too as it’s a country I know well,” explained Esktrom. “It will be interesting to see if many of my DTM fans come to Estering – there aren’t so many race tracks close to Hamburg so I haven’t raced in this part of Germany before but I’m really looking forward to it.”

Monster Energy World RX Team will also be present in Germany with team drivers Henning Solberg and Davy Jeanney.  The talented duo will be eager to follow in the footsteps of Monster Energy athlete Ken Block who secured a top five position at the most recent World RX round in Loheac.

As Germany forms the penultimate round of Euro RX, competition is expected to intensify among the Supercar entries that are eligible to score European points.  Top of the table is Sweden’s Robin Larsson who set the cat among the pigeons earlier this season by taking second overall at World RX of Great Britain.  He is currently leading the series by 36 points, two points ahead of Henning Solberg.  Two-time Snowcross World Champion Emil Ohman is third in the standings with a total of 31 points.  Former WRC driver PG Andersson will make his debut in Euro RX this weekend at the wheel of a Hedstroms Motorsport prepared Skoda Fabia.

Martin Anayi – Managing Director for World RX at IMG Motorsport – concluded: “These next two weeks could prove crucial in the fight for the 2014 drivers’ and manufacturers’ championships. With two events less than a week apart, the pressure is on the teams, the drivers and the cars to perform to the highest level - the smallest mistake could prove detrimental in the title chase.  What makes the task even more tricky is that Estering is one of the fastest and most technical circuits of the year, and Italy which follows is a brand new track which everyone will have to learn very quickly. With huge grids at both Estering and Franciacorta, the competition is set to be fierce in both World RX and Euro RX.  The perfect start will be key to success when such big numbers of entries are involved.  I am delighted that we have our 100th Supercar entered in World RX this season and of course it’s an honour that the man driving this centenary car is experienced rally driver PG Andersson. Best of luck to PG on his debut and all of the other Supercar, Super1600 and TouringCar competitors in what will be a flat-out fortnight of World RX action.”

CIRCUIT INFORMATION

Name:                                                                 Estering Circuit

Length:                                                               952 km

Composition:                                                      60% Asphalt and 40% Dirt

Direction of the track:                                         Clockwise

Number of laps in the Qualifying Heats:             4 laps

Number of laps in Semi-Finals and Finals:         6 laps

EVENT FORMAT

Each event will comprise of practice sessions, four qualifying heats, two semi-finals and one final. There will be four qualifying heats with a maximum of five cars starting abreast in each race over four laps.

HEAT 1:

Starting positions in the races will be determined by a draw that will be carried out beforehand.

HEAT 2:

Race starters determined according to classification of heat 1. This follows the same format until heat 4. All qualifying heats will be timed and the fastest driver in each heat will be rewarded 50 points, second: 45, third: 42, fourth: 40, fifth: 39, sixth: 38 and so on. After the qualifying heats, there will be an intermediate classification according to each driver’s total points scored in the four heats.

SEMI-FINALS:

There will be six starters arranged on a two-by-two grid and each semi-final will be run over six laps. The top 12 scoring drivers in the intermediate classification will qualify for the semi-finals. The winner, second and third placed drivers in each semi-final will qualify for the final.

FINALS:

Finals will also have six starters, arranged over three rows and will be run over six laps. The semi-final winner with the highest number of points in the event will start on the ‘pole’ side of the grid, followed by the other semi-final winner. The same procedure will be used between the two second-placed drivers and two third-placed drivers. The winner of the final will be the winner of the event. Positions one to six in the final classification will be according to the result of the final. The remaining drivers will be classified according to points scored in the event.

JOKER LAPS:

An alternative section of track that adds at least two seconds to the lap time, and through which every driver must pass once in each race, semi-final and final. Failure to take the Joker Lap is penalised by 30-seconds in the qualifying heats, and by being classified last and loss of points in a semi-final or final.

MEDIA INFORMATION/SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Friday 19 September

1600      Drivers Draw and pre-event press conference with Mattias Ekstrom, Petter Solberg, Reinis Nitiss & Topi Heikkinen

Saturday 20 September

1100      Free Practice

1315      Heats 1 & 2

1800      Day 1 press conference

Sunday 21 September

0815      Free practice

0930      Heats 3 & 4 followed by TouringCar semis

1415      S1600 semis and TouringCar final

1500      Supercar semis, Super1600 final and Supercar final

1550      Podium and trophy presentations

1610      RX press conference

FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP CLASSIFICATIONS

The provisional classifications for all the Championship can be found on the following link:

http://www.fia.com/sport/championships/news/world-rallycross-championship

FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP

Shortly after the finish of the sessions, results of the event can be found on the following link:

http://www.fia.com/championship/events/world-rallycross-championship/201...